


Family Reunion

by blueeyeswhitedecim



Category: Death Parade (Anime)
Genre: corny as FUCK do NOT read, moms being moms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-24 21:40:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3785221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueeyeswhitedecim/pseuds/blueeyeswhitedecim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nona request Chiyuki's mother be sent to the fifteenth floor ten years after Chiyuki has left.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I spent like all day on this and I'm pretty tired and nervous about posting. I came up with this idea after seeing a post on Tumblr.

Nona had requested she come alone. It took a handful of sweets to persuade Castra, but she had known she would do it even if it took a little prompting.  


Nona never admitted her soft spot and denied it altogether when confronted, but everyone who knew her also knew that she had a special place for Decim under her cold exterior. Castra had sent the woman to Quindecim with a swipe of her finger and a small smile; she had seen this day coming ever since Chiyuki left ten years ago. It was not a reincarnation of Chiyuki’s soul- no, wherever her soul had ended up on earth, she had a little more time before she was brought back to the tower. But Decim would appreciate it nonetheless. He had loved the woman she called her daughter and kept the Chavvot and Jimmy dolls she made with her own two hands. Chiyuki’s mother would be welcomed warmly in Quindecim.  


“A game of pool will do nicely,” Nona said. “Decim will have to play her, but they will have the opportunity to talk.”  


“You’re the boss,” Castra replied, swiping the screen again. “Decim should be receiving her memories in a second. Hope he isn’t overwhelmed.”  


“He’ll be fine,” Nona assured her, crossing her arms in the straps of her overalls. “I’ll be off now. Don’t eat all that candy in one sitting.”  


“No promises,” Castra said as she unwrapped a lollipop.  


~~~~

Decim was wiping down a glass when the memories came to him. A kaleidoscope of images all featuring a brunette women who died of a heart disease in her late sixties. The memories started happy: a good childhood and education, marriage, and a beautiful raven-haired daughter with a streak of white in her hair. Still entranced by the memories, Decim didn’t hear himself gasp. The daughter was the light of the woman’s life, but everything took a turn into darkness upon the memory of finding the young woman upon the bathroom floor, lifeless and bloody. After that, the old woman’s life became simple: basic routine, time with her husband, praying for her daughter, and then time in the hospital after realizing what her chest pain was.  


Memories never caught Decim so off guard. Once he was torn away from the visions, he leaned over the counter and clutched a hand to his chest, eyes wide and breathing labored. The tall beer mug he had been cleaning was now in a hundred sparkling shards on the floor by his feet. The room was spinning, but in his dizziness he looked over his shoulder to where the dummy sat next to his station. She smiled and looked straight ahead, as though welcoming the guests who entered and saying goodbye as they left. Chiyuki. Yes, he could remember her name. He remembered everything about her. He didn’t question how, as he was sure it was Miss Nona’s doing, he questioned why. In the times of silence at Quindecim, Decim could keep himself company with the memories he had of Chiyuki. Unlike with the other mannequins, whose faces he couldn’t name and stories he couldn’t tell, he could look at the body she had used and recall in all detail the black-haired woman and her time here. She hadn’t completely left him.  


But now her mother would arrive any second. Decim had ten years to cope with the loss by his side he still felt sometimes, and he had only known Chiyuki for three months. Her mother had struggled for years, would seeing this mannequin be too hard on her? Should he move it? Should he call Nona and ask for more time? He stood there, looking between his options, and heard the chime of the elevator. No matter what he decided, it was too late now. And there was still glass on the floor.  


“Hello, please come sit,” he said, greeting his guest in a routine bow and small smile. “Welcome to Quindecim. I am your bartender, Decim.” He analyzed her, and decided that her daughter was just like her. The way she stood unsure in the hallway and the way she looked were both reminiscent of Chiyuki. Even the way she spoke and introduced herself rang a bell in his memories. She made her way forward and settled into a bar stool at the counter, folding her hands in front of her.  


“Are we the only two here?” she asked, looking around the room. She was eyeing the shadows in the balconies, Decim noticed.  


“We are. The figures you see up there are simply mannequins,” he replied. With others, he would not answer to strike fear into them and convince them to play the game. But he could practically hear Chiyuki begging him to not trick her mother into thinking his little hobby was actually corpses he has collected decorating the room. And much like Chiyuki had disliked them, her mother made a face.  


“How interesting,” she said in a way that made her sound not very interested at all. “Why do you have them?”  


“It is a very long story,” Decim told her. His eyes darted towards the one she had not noticed. She would see it very soon, no matter if he told her or not. “They are dedications to my past guests.”  


“Why do you dedicate entire mannequins to your guests?” she asked, leaning on her elbows. Decim smiled, again reminded of Chiyuki.  


“They mean very much to me. I hope you can appreciate them as I do.” He did not look at the mannequin in mind, but let the woman find it herself. When her eyes landed upon it, she put a hand to her mouth, and stood quickly to make her way over to it. She kneeled before her, looking into the white eyes but remembering maroon irises, as Decim always did when he looked at her. He waited to approach, seeing what reaction the older woman would have. She was not violent or afraid; instead, she took the hands that held Chavvot and Jimmy and cradled them in her own.  


“My daughter was here?” she asked, a tear sliding down her face as she looked to Decim. “Is this where the dead come?”  


“It is,” he replied. “I’m sorry for not telling you earlier.”  


“It’s okay,” she assured him. “I… had a feeling something happened to me. I had a heart condition for months.” She looked back to Chiyuki.  
Decim watched a smile appear on her face as she stroked the dummy’s face and ran her fingers over her hands. After all these years, ever since the first time Chiyuki had smiled at him with tears in her eyes, he still couldn’t fully grasp what humans meant when they did it. But Decim suspected she was more happy than sad, because her grin could stretch for miles.  


“Your daughter spent three months here, for I could not pass judgement on her when we first met. She became my assistant, and my best friend. I wish I could have known her much longer, but she was an incredible woman I feel honored to have known.” The mother looked to him, her smile still wide. “You did a wonderful job raising her. I would love to talk more over a game.”  


“I would like that, too,” the mother replied, wiping the tears from her tired eyes and standing. “Tell me everything about my daughter’s time here, Decim. I’m all ears.”

The game was pool, though Decim had known that. He gave the mother a pool stick and took one for himself. They stood next to each other as Decim explained the rules, and she went first.  


“Chiyuki was the best daughter I could have asked for,” the mother said after missing a hit. The ball came to a stop right beside the pocket, but the mother hardly noticed. 

“She lit up my world with her amazing smile.”  


“She did,” Decim agreed. He aimed the cue ball at the ball she had missed and sunk it. “She was kind but did not allow any nonsense. She put me in my place several times.”  


The mother laughed as Decim rounded the table to make his next shot. “Yes, that’s Chi, alright. It’s still hard to believe she was here.” She looked around the room, as though imagining her daughter at the bar and walking across these floors. Decim missed his next shot, and she didn’t notice it was her turn but he stayed quiet. “She must have told you everything about herself already. I’m not sure what else to say.”  


“Actually, there was a period of time where she could not remember her own memories. Her past life was as mysterious to her as it was to me. In order to trigger her memories to pass judgement on her, I had her ice skate, which I knew she loved.”  


Her mother looked up, eyebrow raised. “You knew that?”  


“I am given some of the guests’ memories before they arrive. I have yours, and at a point I had the memories of everyone you see here,” he answered, gesturing towards the figures above them. “Arbiters are made to periodically forget their guests after a time, but for ten years, the memories of my time with your daughter have stayed for some reason.”  


Mothers have a way of knowing things others can’t pick up on. Rarely did they say anything, but they would always clue in somehow. Chiyuki’s mother smiled at him. Decim wasn’t completely sure why.  


“She meant a lot to you, then?” she asked, then leaned over the pool table to take her shot. This time, she got a ball in.  


“She taught me many things. She was a fascinating person I had much respect for, and still do.” The mother stepped around the table to get a better aim on the cue ball. Before she shot, she looked over her shoulder at Decim and gave him a warm look, a look she had given her daughter many times.  


“You never forget those you loved, even long after they are gone. I know that, Chiyuki’s father knows that. Her friends know. And you know.” Another perfect hit. She was better at pool than she let on.  


“The dead don’t forget, either. Chiyuki loved you very much, and missed you terribly once her memories returned,” Decim told her. She paused in her step towards the cue ball, the pool stick she had held so confidently in two hands lowering slowly towards the floor in one loose fist. Decim watched her, confused, but her hair created a curtain that shielded her expression. Her body was still besides her long breaths.  


“You say she loved me,” she said after a short silence. “But I was not a good mother. A good mother wouldn’t let her child become so unhappy that they would end their own life. She is wrong to love me.” She pulled back her greying hair from her profile, expression collapsing into sorrow.  


Decim stared at her in surprise, wondering if all of her memories of her smiling daughter had disappeared. “Chiyuki was happy for a long time. Many years of her life,” Decim said, slowly. “That was thanks to you. Chiyuki’s dissatisfaction with her life was not your fault, nor hers, nor anyone’s. It was a tragic accident that changed her view.” Decim placed a hand to his chest, remembering how he had gripped it long ago when her words had fired at him like slaps as he offered one murderer a chance to kill another. How, when his human emotions bubbled inside him like a shaken soda bottle, he thought he would burst, how he had felt his lifeless heart racing under his palm. “But she taught me what she hadn’t believed when she came here: that humans can understand one another. I struggled to understand her for so long and even when she left, she was still a mystery to me.” Decim looked to the mother, who was watching him with tears in her eyes. “But she knew we could try. I am glad I could meet you today, and tell you this.”  
The mother nodded, blinking the tears from her eyes. They flowed down her face and dripped from her jaw. Without a sound, she put down her pool stick, made her way to Decim, and held him in a gentle hug. Decim placed his hands on her back.  


“Thank you,” said the mother. He could feel her mouth turn up into a smile against the fabric of his vest. “Thank you for taking care of my daughter when I couldn’t.”

The game ended in the mother’s favor. She had handled herself well during the rest of the match, smiling every time she gained a memory. Knowing her daughter had left happy, Decim had a feeling that she herself could leave happy. Just like Chiyuki, she was a great candidate for reincarnation. Decim led her to the elevator.  


“So my soul will be sent off, but the dummy will remain?” she asked him.  


“That is correct.”  


“Please do me a favor, then, and place me with my daughter.” The elevator opened, and she turned to him. “As long as you remember Chiyuki, you will remember me.”  


“Of course, ma’am. Our time together has been like a dream.”  


“I completely agree, Decim. I feel like I was able to spend a few more hours with my daughter. I do hope she’s happy, wherever she ended up.” The mother stepped into the elevator, standing much taller than she had when she first walked in. Decim bowed to her.  


“I wish you luck on your journey.” When he stood again, he smiled at her. “Here is to the hope that you meet Chiyuki’s soul again.”  


The doors began to close on the mother’s happy face. “To the hope that we both meet her again,” she said. The elevator closed, and was sent off. Decim stood there a minute, faced with an aching loneliness he had not felt for ten years.  
  


~~~~

Castra crossed one leg over the other, watching Nona enter with a tray and putting a cup down in front of her. “How did it go?” she asked her, fingers wrapping around the glass. “Your boy’s judgement this afternoon?”  


“From what I can tell, it was well,” Nona replied, settling in herself and pouring the tea. “The woman was sent for reincarnation. Like mother like daughter, I suppose.”  


“That must have been quite the blast from the past for him. Is he holding up okay?” Castra held the cup just before her lips, watching Nona for a response. The blue-haired girl drummed her fingers on the table, her own cup steaming and untouched.  


“You know Decim. He is always so sturdy on the outside, but it doesn’t change the fact that he was programmed with human emotions. Time heals all wounds. He just needs a little more time.”  


“Will you say that every time he meets someone Chiyuki knew? Even her soul itself?” Castra questioned. Nona shook her head.  


“No. One day, he will ask her to stay. And one day she will say yes.” Nona picked up her teacup and took a sip. “I think that even the mother knew that.”  


Castra chuckled. “Knowing that must be a mom thing,” she joked. Nona’s eye roll didn’t mask the amusement she tried to hide. They both drank quietly.

**Author's Note:**

> this took me like 13 hours to post :/


End file.
